Trust Your Enemy
by Spaleween
Summary: He's the best operative of the army. To him, she's one of the terrorists he has to eliminate. She's the best operative of the resistance. To her, he's one of the soldiers she has to destroy. AxC. Please review.
1. I literally shoot for a living

A/N: This is AU. Yes, there is a war but the context is different from Seed or Destiny. No mobile suits, though. I haven't got the imagination for that. Oh yeah, I gave this story a T rating for the language and violence, maybe I'll upgrade the rating for later chapters.

OoOoOoOo

"How many?"

Kisaka took a peek, then hid behind a devastated wall and flashed four fingers at her.

Cagalli nodded, fished out a black rectangular object from her bag and got ready to press the button.

He held her shoulder, "Wait," as he took another peek.

"What are you waiting for?" she asked irritably as she peeked as well.

Four soldiers got in each of the tanks when Kisaka released her shoulder, "Now."

She pressed the button, and the four tanks exploded in the middle of the deserted desert town, "Got them!"

"Let's go," Kisaka said as he stood up to run.

Cagalli followed him as more soldiers poured out of the building in front of the burning wreck, "We should have blown up that bar, too."

"Not enough explosives."

"Tch."

A jeepney stopped in front of them. Both of them managed to jump in before the driver sped off into the city.

"Thanks, Sting." Kisaka said.

"No problem. Captain Romius said good work."

Kisaka then turned to Cagalli, "You need to work on your patience."

She spat, "You don't have the right to lecture me."

Kisaka and Sting met each other's eyes and gave an amused shrug.

OoOoOoOo

"It may be war out there in the desert, but it's a different kind of battle here," Murrue said in the meeting in the underground headquarters, "According to the latest information, Kisaka and Cagalli not only destroyed the enemy's four latest tank models but also killed four of their best tank drivers."

Nearly everyone cheered.

"However, the enemy is sure to retaliate," Andrew said, "If not in the battlefield, it will be here in the city. We should be stricter in our security measures. Alright? Dismissed."

"I don't know why you're all so happy when all you got were a few tanks." A raven-haired guy said as they went out of the room.

Cagalli shot him an angry glare, "Either you shut up that crappy mouth of yours or I do it for you, which is it going to be?"

"Bring it on, girlie."

"What was that?!" She exclaimed as she launched herself towards him when she was stopped by Kisaka, who was already between the two, "All right, stop it both of you. Shinn, you're needed at the weapons facility."

Shinn didn't move.

"Now."

"Tch," Shinn muttered as he went off.

"Really, Cagalli," Kisaka said as he turned to the blonde, "When are you going to control that temper of yours?"

"But he provoked me! It's his fault!"

"You're still a kid after all."

"Stop calling me that! I'm not a kid anymore, I'm 17!"

Cagalli went out of the building, looked left and right before walking out. As she turned towards a corner, she peeped out of the corner of her eye before walking twenty steps then backtracking towards the corner and walking towards another direction, observing the faces of the people as she went. She entered the orphanage and removed her cap and coat.

"How was it?" Lacus asked as few kids followed her.

"I wasn't followed here."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"Oh that," Cagalli scoffed, "Well, we hit our mark." She then looked at Lacus, "Oh don't look at me like that. It wasn't the wrong thing to do."

"How many were…" Lacus looked at the children, and then continued, "…hit?"

"Four goners," Cagalli replied, "What? You would have preferred if it was from our side?"

"Of course not," Lacus said, "You blew up one of their city outposts, didn't you?"

"Shinn did, why?"

"A bomb went off at a school, and there were still children in there."

"What?" Cagalli exclaimed, and clenched her fists, "Those bastards, and they have the nerve to call us terrorists!"

OoOoOoOo

"We lost Heine and Nicol in that town? But isn't that place ours already?"

"It seems that it was the doing of the terrorists, Ma'am." Meyrin said quietly.

"Damn." Talia Gladys swore.

Meyrin hesitated, "The operatives have arrived as well."

"Bring them in."

Two young men went in the office and saluted, "Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato reporting for duty."

Talia returned the salute, "Have you heard the news?"

"Yes ma'am," Athrun said, "The terrorists have bombed the east city gate outpost and destroyed four of the latest tank models as well as four tank drivers."

She nodded, "You have your orders?"

"We are to gather information on the terrorists and execute the ringleaders." Kira said.

"Right. We want to know who the ringleaders are, their personalities, and their weaknesses. We want to know how much their resources, their weapons, and their ammunition are. We want to know their communication system, their battle plans, and who their best operatives are. They say you're the best in the entire army, they better be right."

Both of them saluted, "Yes ma'am." They went out of the room.

"Hi I'm Meyrin Hawke," the girl said as she caught up with them, "I'll be your contact."

Athrun smiled, "Nice to meet you, Ms. Hawke," as he held out his hand.

Meyrin was flustered as she held her hand to shake his, "Please, call me Meyrin."

"All right."

They went out of the building and the two young men separated with only a wave that signaled their parting.

"You guys aren't going to be together?" she asked as she followed Athrun.

"We work better this way," he replied, "Now if you excuse me, I have to find myself a job."

OoOoOoOo

"A customer?" Athrun asked his boss.

"We're short on people right now and this is an important customer. All you need to do is go to the Dominion bar this Tuesday, 10 in the evening, with a silver cross as your necklace pendant. Make yourself known to him, get his order, and then return here. No questions asked. Got it?"

"How will I know it's him?"

"He'll ask if you, 'Have you heard the songstress yet?' and you'll answer, 'Sorry, I'm new here.' Got that?"

"Yeah."

"No slip-ups, you hear?"

"I hear."

OoOoOoOo

Tuesday, nine-thirty in the evening. The Dominion bar was smoky, noisy, and dirty, Athrun observed as he went in. He didn't want to talk to anyone, so he sat at the farthest seat from the door and the barman. As he studied everyone's faces, he thought, _seriously, how can anyone talk discreetly in a place like this?_ A waitress in her early twenties wearing cheap make-up came to his table and asked him his orders flirtatiously. Athrun ordered weak beer and lowered his cap down his face even more. The waitress was waving her hips more than necessary and the men were hooting at her as she went past them. _She's going to be a nuisance_, he thought.

At exactly ten o'clock, the door was opened by a man with a big built. He scanned the room and noticed Athrun's silver cross. He sat across him and asked, "Have you heard the songstress yet?"

Athrun beat faster, so he took a deep breath before he answered, "Sorry, I'm new here."

The man studied him as Athrun averted his eyes, "You're not the old one."

"They're short of people."

"What do you do for a living?"

"I literally shoot for a living."

"At people?" the man's voice was tense for a moment

"At paper targets."

The man visibly relaxed, "You test the weapons."

"Yeah."

He got something out of his pocket, put it on top of the table, covered it with his palm, and wordlessly pushed it in front of Athrun, who quickly stuffed it into his jeans pocket. He then got out of the bar, walked a few meters forward, turning right and settling into the darkness of the bushes with a clear view of the door.

_"Well?"_

Athrun adjusted his earphone under his cap, "No mistake about it, he's the guy in the video."

_"You sure he's one of those who blew up the tanks?"_

"Positive. The prisoner's information was right. The company I'm working in deals weapons to the terrorists."

_"I'm going to contact you later with the profile."_

"Thanks, Kira."

Athrun got the list out and made a copy. A few hours later, the man went out of the bar. Athrun tailed him towards a house, where Kira was waiting.

"He's an important part of the terrorist organization," Kira whispered, "Take him out and they're crippled."

Athrun nodded and gave the list to the company's boss.

For a week, they followed the man around until one very early Saturday morning. The man was in another bar talking with the barman. Athrun was on top of another building, lying on his front, his scope adjusted properly not towards the man, but towards a briefcase at the far side of the bar. When the wind stopped, he fired two shots: the first to break the window, and the second to pierce the case full of nitroglycerine.

The bar burst into flames.

Athrun stood up, picked up the sniper, refolded it into his bag, and walked home.

_"Good work, Athrun."_

"Yeah. The only one left is who the prisoner called the Goddess of Victory. Got any idea as to who that may be?"

_"Nope, but I'll try to figure it out. You try and get some rest."_

"You too, Kira."

OoOoOoOo

Cagalli was drunk senseless.

Usually, she was accompanied by Kisaka, but he died in an explosion in a bar two days ago. The building across it was an important building to the government before the army came. People in the resistance were saying that the explosion was a warning, and that Kisaka was unfortunate to be caught in the blast. She knew better, she knew that the explosion was to deliberately kill Kisaka.

Cagalli was so depressed and miserable that she took off without informing anyone and drank every alcohol listed on the menu. No one was there to stop her. Finally, the barman told her it was time to close shop so she staggered outside; trying to let her muddled mind remember which way was home. She passed a dark alley, where there were two men as drunk as she was who made their way towards her.

"Hello miss, care to join us?" his foul breath sneaking up her nostrils.

Cagalli cringed and drawled, "Back off, you stinky son of a bitch."

"Don't be like that, honey," the other drunk said as he got his arms around her and roughly tried to kiss her.

She struggled and kicked him in the shin. He groaned and sank into the ground. The first drunk then punched her in the stomach. She cried out in pain and sank to her knees, clutching her stomach. He grabbed her arm and tilted her chin, "Be nice."

She couldn't fight back in pain, and closed her eyes. Cagalli heard the drunk shout, and her arm abruptly released. She opened her eyes and saw someone skillfully dodging the drunks' punches. Her savior then unleashed an uppercut against one of them, knocking him out and breaking the arm of the other. He then went towards Cagalli and asked in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Are you alright, miss?"

The pain in her head and her stomach was too much to bear and she blacked out.

OoOoOoOo

A/N: How do you like it? Please review. Constructive criticisms are very welcome.


	2. I’m not a lady, you idiot!

A/N: I appreciate the reviews a lot. Thank you! Oh yeah, I'm making the rating of this story M because of the violence, and some other scenes.

Disclaimer: I own neither Gundam Seed nor Gundam Seed Destiny.

OoOoOoOo

Shinn was walking around the city, carefully scrutinizing the faces of the people he passed by as he backtracked several times in case he was being followed. Being a part of the resistance made sure that he could never relax until the army was driven out. He stopped abruptly, untied his shoelaces, and tied them again, peeking left and right at the same time. Shinn had to be careful, especially since he found out that Kisaka was killed. He didn't know who was an ally or an enemy outside the organization.

The noise of wood tapping the concrete behind him grabbed his attention and turned to see the back of a blond girl. She tapped the area in front of her and stopped. The blonde tilted her head a bit then started to cross the street just as the traffic light turned green.

"Wait!" Shinn said as he got her elbow just as a car sped away a few inches from her, "Are you bli—"

The girl had turned around and Shinn saw that she had bandages over her eyes, "Oh, was the light green? I'm sorry; I thought no one was here so I thought it was okay to walk."

Shinn blinked, still drinking in the sight of her, "Oh."

"Um, if you don't mind," she then said, "Could you let go of my arm, please?"

He looked at her arm, where he held her and released his grip, "Right, sorry."

She smiled, "Could you lead me to the Gaia hotel?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you seem nice, and I'm still having trouble crossing the streets."

Shinn smiled, "Sure."

"I'm Stellar, by the way."

_Stellar, nice name_, he thought, "I'm Shinn."

The light turned red and he led Stellar across the street.

OoOoOoOo

She woke up, blurry-eyed. Cagalli turned her head to the right and saw an unfamiliar desk, and unfamiliar lamp, and an unfamiliar wall. _Where am I?_ She thought.

"Oh good, you're awake." A strangely familiar male voice said.

Cagalli abruptly turned her head to the left and saw a young man with green eyes. Instinct kicked in. She grabbed the lamp and threw it at him; and then she jumped out of bed and ran to the wall farthest away from him. Cagalli then felt her pockets for her small knife but unable to find it, "Where—?"

"Looking for this?"

She looked surprisingly at the man, who held the lamp in his left hand, and balanced a tray that had a plate of food and a cup in it. He put down the tray and the lamp on a small table next to him and picked up the knife.

"That's mine!" Cagalli growled

"I know," he said with an amused look on his face, "You had it in your hand when I found you, remember?"

Cagalli suddenly remembered holding the knife when the drunk held her chin. She remembered having someone rescue her with the same familiar voice. And then the pain came rushing to her head and she dropped to her knees.

He came near, picked her up, and said once again in that amused voice, "You wake up weird," before putting her down on the bed.

She wanted to snap at him, but the pain proved to be stronger and she held the sides of her head tighter. Cagalli then had a cup of tea under her nose and saw that it was held by the man towards her.

"Here, drink this," he said, "It'll make you feel better."

She took the cup gratefully and took a sip. Immediately it made her feel better; enough to make her take another sip. He continued to stare at her for a while before bringing her the plate of food, which Cagalli wolfed down and brought a chuckle out of him.

She glared at him, "What's so funny?"

"Is it always like this when you get drunk?"

Cagalli then felt embarrassed about having a stranger take care of her when she had a hangover and she blushed.

He returned to her the knife, "That's a wicked-looking weapon for someone like you."

"What? You think I'm too girlish to have something like this?"

"Well," he was, for the moment, at a loss for words, "What I mean is it's strange that you have something like that."

Cagalli stared at the knife before sheathing it behind her, "Self-protection."

"Really? You know how to use that?"

"Of course! Who do you think I am?" She became irritated.

He stared at her and laughed.

Cagalli was offended, "What's so funny?"

He grinned at her with his green eyes, "You look cute when you get angry."

Cagalli reddened before throwing the pillow at his face, "Oh, shut up!"

He was still chuckling when he removed the pillow from his face. Cagalli was about to hit him when she remembered that it was he who rescued her the night before. She lowered her head said quietly, "Thank you…for saving me."

"It's what any gentleman would do in the situation," he said as he stood up and stared out of the window, "But I admit, it wasn't very lady-like of you to get stone drunk like that."

"That's because I'm not a _lady_, you idiot!"

He glanced at her, "You aren't? Why did you get drunk anyway?"

Cagalli turned away, "I'm not obliged to explain myself to an idiot."

He shrugged, "Well I won't force you to tell me. But what I should tell you is that this idiot has a name. It's…Alex Dino, how about the non-lady with the knife?"

She smiled at his choice of words before saying, "Cagalli Yula Atha," She then thought, _Shit! Why did I say my real name? I shouldn't have done that. But it's not like he's from the army is he?_ "What do you do, Alex?"

Alex hesitated before answering, "I…test weapons for a company. You?"

"I…" Cagalli was at a loss for words, unable to think of an answer. _Think! Think of anything except the resistance!_ "I…"

He stared intently at her, waiting for her response.

Sweat ran down the side of her face. _I've got to make up something_. And then she was inspired, "I was applying for a job at the school when I heard that it was bombed."

Alex showed pity in his eyes, "Oh."

Cagalli was becoming nervous with the conversation, fearing that she might give herself away, even if he was a civilian. She didn't know whether he sympathized with the resistance or not. Cagalli looked at her watch, "I should go home now."

"Where do you live? I'll walk with you."

She became even more nervous. She lived at the resistance headquarters. But she couldn't possibly tell him about the orphanage either, "No, I'll be fine. I'm staying with my friends."

"Oh? What about your house?"

"It…It was bombed too."

A sad look passed his face, "Sorry about that."

Cagalli blinked, "What are you apologizing for?"

"I…I'm sorry that you don't have a house anymore."

She was touched by his sincerity and blushed, "Well it's not like you bombed it yourself, didn't you?"

He gave a thin smile, "Right."

Cagalli stood up, "I should go now. Bye, Alex." She left the room.

Athrun smiled, "You have a weird sense of gratitude, Cagalli."

OoOoOoOo

Shinn and Stellar were at a coffee shop, eating chocolates and drinking ice-cold frappuccinos. And then Stellar's cellphone rang. Their laughter was cut short; Stellar answered her phone, "Hello. Oh hi. I'm fine. All right. See you."

"Who was that?" Shinn asked

"My guardian," Stellar answered, "He was the one who took me out of the orphanage. I know! Why don't you meet him?"

He smiled good-naturedly, "Why not?"

They got up and walked towards a car in a parking lot. Stellar made her way towards the open door of the passenger seat behind the driver. Shinn was startled to see the person inside.

"Gil, this is my new friend, Shinn Asuka," Stellar introduced gaily, "Shinn, this is my guardian, Gilbert Dullindal."

The man calmly smiled and reached out his hand, "Pleased to meet you Shinn."

Shinn gulped and reached out his hand as well, "Pleased to meet you, too." Gilbert Dullindal, commander-in-chief of the army, shook his hand.

OoOoOoOo

Athrun was in the phone booth, pretending to place a call as he observed his surroundings through his sunglasses. He noticed Kira pretending to ask directions towards the embassy in halted English. Athrun saw him thanking the man and got into a taxi that stopped by him on time. The taxi then drove off to the south direction. Athrun then got out of the phone booth, walked north, and circled the block halfway. When he got to the lamp post diagonally opposite from the phone booth, the very same taxi passed by and he got in.

Meyrin was beside him, smiling, "First of all, congratulations to both of you for the extermination of an important man in the resistance."

Athrun returned the smile, "We were just doing our jobs."

She got two photos and gave them to Athrun and Kira, "This is your next target."

Athrun was surprised to see a man in the picture, "I thought we were going after the Goddess of Victory?"

"Captain Gladys said it was more important to know more about the network than killing them off instantly. Your target, Yuuna Seiran, is an important figure in the resistance since he has a lot of contacts both in the terrorist organization and out of it.  
Unlike the man you previously assassinated, he poses no physical threat."

"So you're saying that we should squeeze the information out of him first since he's easy to kill?"

"Well, you could say that."

Athrun looked at his silent companion, "Kira?"

"I thought the way we were supposed to do things is that they tell us what they want to have and we are left alone to do it." Kira said quietly.

"It's okay, Kira. We're their operatives, after all." Athrun said reasonably.

"You're their spy, and I'm a mercenary," Kira said, "It's different, Athrun."

OoOoOoOo

The man was a pervert, Sting thought. The man, the aide to the captain of the feared Minerva elite squad, loved to go to strip joints and brothels. He learned that the name of the foolish aide was Arthur.

After three days of consecutively tailing him, Sting was ready. He was watching Arthur ogle at the pole dancers in the Chaos strip club. He then eyed a busty redhead who just entered, glanced at Arthur, then returned his eyes to the redhead, who nodded. She went to Arthur and whispered in his ear. Arthur turned to her and his eyes went wide at her huge bosom. The woman smiled seductively at him and Sting knew that he was lost.

She led him to a motel at the quieter part of the city. Sting waited at the adjacent room and heard their groans. To keep his concentration, he sharpened the long knife he was holding. After two hours, he heard four knocks on the wall. Sting stood up and went to the other room where he saw the woman standing there, wearing only a towel. He gave her a wad of bills. The woman then dressed back to the revealing red gown and went out. Sting stared at the sleeping man. He then tied both feet and one hand to the bedpost. Sting then took then took the other arm and broke it against his knee. Arthur immediately woke up and screamed in pain. Before he could scream more, Sting placed the knife between his lips, "If you make another noise, I'll cut your lips off."

The terror in the man's eyes was reflected by the moonlight. Sting told him, "I'm going to give you a choice. Either I'm going to let you bleed to death by cutting your limbs off or I'm going to give you a quick death by a stab in the heart, what will it be? When I remove that knife, you're going to answer, all right?"

Arthur did nothing. When Sting removed the knife, Arthur yelled at the top of his voice, "Help! Somebody help me!"

Sting then proceeded to stab him in the heart and Arthur died instantly. He said, "That's for Kisaka, you bastards."

OoOoOoOo

A/N: Was that too violent for you guys? I was trying to portray that they were really in an espionage war, and people never really knew who was an ally or an enemy. They will never be sure who wants to kill them, when they will be killed, or where they will be killed. It's just the ugly side of a war. I was inspired by suspense-thriller authors such as Daniel Silva, Ken Follett, and Tom Clancy. Oh well, please review! Once again, constructive criticism is very welcome.


	3. Who the hell is Kira Yamato?

A/N: Okay, so the violence doesn't bother anyone. Hooray! Thanks for the reviews.

Disclaimer: I, regrettably, do not own any anime that has come to existence, and that includes Gundam Seed and Destiny.

OoOoOoOo

"Can I ask you a question?"

Stellar giggled, "You already did, Shinn."

He became a little flustered, "No, I meant—"

She smiled, "Sure, what is it?"

"How did you become like that? Blind, I mean."

"Oh this?" she briefly touched her bandaged eyes before shrugging; "I was walking near the city outpost when it happened to be bombed. I was careless, some glass shards got in my eyes."

For once, Shinn was grateful that the girl in front of him was blind, or else see the guilt spread across his face.

"Shinn?"

"What?" he asked a bit too quickly

"Are you okay? You became awfully silent."

"Um, sorry about that."

A redhead then came up to them and touched Stellar's arm, "He said he wants to see you at the usual place."

At the mention of the word 'he', Shinn stiffened, knowing fully well who 'he' was. It was becoming obvious to him that the girl who just came by and flagrantly disturbed their conversation was a military woman in disguise. From Shinn's sharp eyes, he could see her stiff posture, her economic pace, and her eyes roaming around, absorbing the surrounding's every detail. _Who was she trying to fool?_ Shinn thought.

Stellar hesitated, "But Shinn—"

The redhead looked at Shinn, the meaning in her eyes, "He'll still be here when you come back, right?"

He looked in those magenta eyes with anticipation, "Right."

Stellar smiled, "All right," and then stood up to leave.

When the blonde left, the redhead promptly sat at the vacated seat, much to Shinn's anticipation, and chagrin as well. She stared at him with her stiff formality, "You accepted his offer of employment, am I correct?"

His face registered suspicion, and then immediately changed it to a blank expression. He instinctively hated this particular army, the fact supported by his affiliation with the resistance. Shinn, for a moment feared that the woman might think of it that way and hoped that he would appear to her merely as a suspicious bastard, which was a far cry from the eager guy he was when he met Dullindal, "You're from the military, I presume?"

She stared sharply at him, "Hush, no need to tell the whole world, you idiot."

Shinn smirked; _We already know who you are_.

"We have checked your background and found it to suffice." She said

_Ah, Miriallia did a great job again, as usual._

"Go to the café in front of the north city outpost every Tuesday and Friday, ten in the morning. Wait for your orders in an hour. If nobody gives you anything in an hour, leave. Got that?"

"And you are?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "You don't need to know my name."

Shinn shrugged, "For all I care, you might be a part of the terrorist organization masquerading to be a military officer, and I'm merely bait in some terrorist act." He hated calling the resistance as a terrorist organization, but he knew it would fool her.

She stood up and glared at him, "I shall only be known to you as Luna," and left, "For God's sake, do try to be discreet."

Shinn grinned triumphantly to himself as Stellar returned. _Jackpot_.

OoOoOoOo

Tuesday. It was already quarter past 10:30 and still no one was talking to Shinn.

_Damn, am I going to play the fool after all?_ He thought, _Was that bastard actually the one playing me? If I get caught and tortured now, I would betray the entire resistance. I can't allow that!_

"Phew! Isn't the weather hot today?"

Shinn looked up to see a tanned blond man grinning at him. He was instantly on his guard.

The man must have noticed his stiffness and said, "No need to be suspicious, you know. But my legs are sore from sitting down all day, care for a walk?"

_His legs aren't sore_, Shinn thought, _his walk was that of a well-exercised man who wouldn't sit around all day_. He was elated; _finally we're getting somewhere_, "Sure."

_For a military man, he sure is lax_, Shinn thought as he stared at the man actually enjoying the sunshine and flirting with girls, _probably because he isn't in his uniform_, "Aren't you supposed to be talking business right now?"

"Hmm, they told me you were impatient. It was certainly an understatement; you were practically getting ready to leave from that chair even when the hour wasn't even up yet."

Shinn glared at him and said angrily, "You were observing me the entire time?"

He grinned amusedly at him, "Of course, I need to see for myself whether you were for real or not."

Shinn's anger dissipated, "What do you mean?"

He ignored the question and gave him an envelope, "You're now an unofficial courier of the military since you are a native of this place. Tonight, there will be a man in the pier who will be playing with a ring of keys. Give him this at ten o'clock in the evening and leave."

Shinn took the envelope and looked at him, "You didn't answer my question."

The man looked around sharply, then said, "Follow me," he then darted inside a pub.

Shinn was bewildered, "What the heck is with him?" But still he followed him inside the empty pub. Daylight was not kind to the place. The broken pieces of furniture, cracked windows, stink, and dirt in the pub made Shinn wonder why the hell the man would choose the place to talk when the army was dominant in the city and he had already finished giving him his task, "What do you still want?"

He was sitting in one of chairs, his face looking at him in amusement and propped by his elbow, "You know, for one of the best operatives of the resistance, you sure are slow."

With the mention of the resistance, Shinn immediately grabbed the gun hidden behind him and targeted the man only to see that the tanned blond man was faster than him in doing the same thing.

"You should really put your gun down," he said as his gun was trained on Shinn.

Shinn was not in the mood for jokes, "Maybe you're the one who should." He was bewildered. The man knew that he was in the resistance. Did Miriallia make a mistake with his papers? Still, if he already knew he was in the resistance, why go through all this trouble when they could just capture and interrogate him in an instant? Why go through all the effort of giving him his orders as a courier and even face him himself? _What the fuck is going on?_

The man blinked, "You mean you still don't know what's going on?"

Shinn was still confused, "What?"

He grinned, "Geez, I'm that good?" He put his gun down the table, and revealed sheaves of paper to Shinn.

The black-haired guy then took the proffered papers, saw the picture of a brown-haired man and asked, "Who the hell is Kira Yamato?"

The man grinned in amusement.

OoOoOoOo

"I am going to what?!"

Murrue Romius sighed, "I am not going to repeat this again. You are going to be Yuuna Seiran's bodyguard during the party."

"Why am I going to be the one watching over that pompous prick?" Cagalli said angrily.

"Your language, Cagalli," Murrue warned sternly before continuing, "First, we're short of men unlike the army as you know very well. Majority of the men are on the battlefield, besides you're the one with no assignment as of late. Second, Seiran is an important man in the resistance. He has the contacts that we need."

Cagalli was still seething, "How the hell am I supposed to be unobserved in that party? There are too many people!"

Her captain smiled amusedly, "You won't be an unobserved agent at the party, and you will be Seiran's escort, his fiancée for the night."

"There is no way in hell I'm going to be that bastard's fiancée and I will not show up in that party wearing a dress!"

OoOoOoOo

Kira assembled the sniper inside the house he was renting and hung it above the window in the living room before retiring to his bedroom. His job was to find out more about the resistance leaders, and so far he found out that the digital security of the terrorist organization was tighter than he thought. He was glad of the thrill of hacking his way through their security. Besides, his other job, the assassination of one more terrorist, was put on hold for the moment as Athrun was doing the surveillance.

He stood up and glanced at the window when he saw a flicker in the shadows. Kira immediately leaped outside the bedroom and hid temporarily behind the cheap sofa. He heard the explosion and the burst of flames as he thought, _someone found me out already?_

The window in the living room was smashed open next and Kira pushed the door open and leapt as far as he could before the explosion came. However, he avoided it seconds late and got caught in the blast. Kira was blown against the nearest tree and cried out in pain. His arm hit the tree harder than he had expected. Still, when he fell to the ground, Kira immediately stood up and sighted his surroundings and found what he was looking for: his amateur assassinator.

Ignoring his several injuries, he immediately caught the man, who was foolishly looking at the burning house, _probably checking if I'm still alive_, Kira thought as the man let out a grunt of surprise.

Kira then got out the knife he kept strapped to his leg and brought it to the man's eyes, "Where are you from?"

The man reeked of terror, "Y-You're still alive…"

Kira managed a small smile; there was no way he would die in such a crude manner, "If you want your eyes to remain intact, I suggest you to speak."

The man still refused to speak so Kira lightly stabbed his right eye. As expected, the man opened his mouth to scream. Kira quickly placed two of his fingers into the man's mouth, since he still had his knife stuck in the man's eyeball. The man was about to retch when Kira withdrew his fingers; the man promptly vomited.

After that, Kira placed his knife in front of the man's left eye. Instinctively, he covered his bloody eye and whimpered, "Oh please, don't take my eye out…I'll tell you everything!"

Kira breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Do you belong to the resistance?"

The man gulped, "Yes."

Dread filled Kira, his fears confirmed. He had been found out, "Did the leaders of the resistance order you to kill me?"

"Y-Yes."

"Did they order anyone else to be killed along with me?"

"N-No."

Kira sighed, he had no choice, "Last question, do you have backup?"

The man was shaking and shook his head. The light of terror was gone from his eyes to be replaced by something else, something like triumph. Kira wondered at this sudden change when he saw that the man still had a bomb in his person, and he just removed the pin.

OoOoOoOo

The day of the party, Athrun was unable to contact Kira. He was worried, for Kira was the one to do the assassination, while he squeezes the information out of Seiran. Still, he didn't know where he was. The only times they met in this city were when they were met by Meyrin, the contact, and when they were tailing their first terrorist kill. They never knew each other's residence in the city, since they would not be able to disclose the information to the enemy, if the enemy did manage to know who they were.

Damn, where was Kira? The army had been notified of course, and as their means of replacement, they sent a girl to accompany him to the part while they marked Kira as MIA. The two had already introduced themselves to each other, her name was Lunamaria Hawke.

"Wow, I'm actually working with the Red Knight," she remarked, smiling.

Athrun was a bit flustered with the mention of the nickname, "Um, you know me?"

Lunamaria glanced at him, "Everyone does."

OoOoOoOo

She took a cup of tea and set it to the desk near the awakening man, "Oh, you're awake."

The man opened his eyes and thought, _where am I?_ And then he remembered the night before.

_He opened his eyes and found every inch of his body in pain. And then his thoughts came back to him, he was found out. He needed to hide. The man remembered the orphanage that was nearest to his residence and decided to seek refuge there. Painfully, he crawled his way through and managed to get a few knocks on the door._

_"Just a minute," a musical female voice called out._

_The door was opened, Kira saw feminine ankles and a skirt. He heard the same female voice say, "Oh my." Before he lost his consciousness once again._

OoOoOoOo

A/N: I do hope you know what I'm all implying here in this chapter. The back story of this fanfiction, the war between the army and the so-called 'terrorists' is about to be told, just wait. If Kira wasn't that much in character, I'm sorry. I did my best to make him stay in character although not averse to killing. I am trying to make this fast-paced, that's why there's so much happening in such a short time. Am I succeeding or is it just too confusing? I'm trying to hone whatever writing skill I have and I badly need the comments. Oh well. Do review, please. As usual, constructive criticism is very welcome.


	4. Why do people call you terrorists then?

A/N: It may not look AU but I swear this fic is. I have a lot of uses for the italic style; you just have to figure out what it is when it is used.

Some have commented on my lack of fleshing out the main characters and I have to agree. Thank you for mentioning that. This chapter is longer than usual, to make up for the longer than usual period of inactivity, a thousand apologies.

Also, you must forgive me if there's not too much fluff here. I really can't bring myself to write that stuff. Romance here is relatively different from the moonlight-wines-and-roses setting. I do swear that there is romance here. Why don't you check out my other fic and see for yourself.

Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam Seed or Destiny, I wouldn't be making fan fics right now.

OoOoOoOo

He awoke to the sound of the children's delighted squeals. The young man turned his head to see a pink-haired woman tending to several children at once. He blinked, _how long did I sleep?_

The brunette then remembered that he had a job to do and quickly rose from the bed, which successfully brought pain to his entire body and he grunted. The girl noticed him, "Oh, you're awake again." She led the children away before going to him and gently pushing him back to the bed, "You're injured."

Kira succumbed to the pain and went back to bed. He managed to smile ruefully at her, "Sorry for troubling you."

She smiled back and waved the apology away, "Not at all. Besides, you don't have anywhere to go since your house burned down."

He looked sharply at her, "How many knows?"

She shrugged daintily, "The entire district, maybe. They see it as an accident."

Kira breathed a sigh of relief before the warning bells in his head were sounding off again, _they 'see' it as an accident?_ He looked at her warily.

"Oh I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Lacus Clyne."

He heard about her. Lacus was the remarkably persuasive songstress who sang about freedom and peace. Kira was amused by this until he remembered that he was a mercenary hired by the army and he was supposed to be opposed to her. But that was the only thing he could do, right?

"I didn't get yours."

He snapped out of his thoughts, "Kira Yamato," he mumbled. He had his suspicions that she was a part of the terrorist organization. Why else would she do the things she did? On the other hand, singing was the unlikeliest thing a terrorist would do. Still, he was worried. Lacus said they saw it as an accident. Did she believe otherwise? Did she call the other terrorists to pick him up and interrogate him, or worse, kill him?

"Nice to meet you Kira."

Kira was uncomfortable; he didn't know what to do.

Lacus probably sensed his discomfort, "Are you okay, Kira?"

He was unable to answer her, not sure what to think, not sure how to act. The logical side of his mind knew that he should kill her, to finally silence the meddlesome songstress. The other side of his mind thought otherwise.

OoOoOoOo

The moment she met him, Cagalli knew she disdained Yuuna Seiran.

He was a lecherous bastard, she noticed as his eyes roamed below her face. She was disgusted to pretend to be his fiancée, and even more revolted to protect his sorry life. But she had her mission, she had her orders. Murrue wanted him alive. Cagalli snorted as she sat in the passenger seat of a luxury car on the way to the party. She sat as far away from him as possible but he still managed to stroke her thigh. "Get your hand off me, bastard," she growled.

Thankfully, he withdrew, "Now, now, that's not a nice way to treat your soon-to-be-husband."

"My faux soon-to-be-husband," she corrected him, "If you don't keep your hands to yourself, I swear you will be humiliated in that party."

Yuuna managed a, "Hmph," before staring out the opposite window.

Cagalli loathed this night, she loathed escorting Yuuna Seiran, and she loathed wearing a dress, especially one with a remarkably high slit. Still, it had its purposes. The car slowed to a halt. She didn't realize that they were already here. Yuuna got out of the car and promptly fixed himself. Cagalli scowled at him before opening the door at her side, going to him, and hooking her arm with his with much reluctance.

When Yuuna and Cagalli entered, everyone stared at them and the hall erupted into loud murmurs. As of that moment, she wished the earth had swallowed her up.

OoOoOoOo

After a few minutes, Kira made his decision, "Where's my knife?"

Lacus blinked and replied quietly, "Near the vase."

Kira painfully rose from the bed and reached for his knife, with the army's insignia embedded on the hilt. He said stiffly, "You know where I'm from."

Silence came from the girl.

"You're a terrorist, aren't you, Miss Lacus?"

She stood up and faced him, her voice laced with carefully controlled anger, "We are not terrorists, Kira Yamato. We do not terrorize people. That was never our objective."

Kira was taken aback by the gentle girl's sudden force, "So you do admit you're from that side."

Lacus blinked, "And I do not think you are a military man."

Kira was forced into silence, and then stammered, "What makes you say that?"

"Were you trained in a military school, I think you would have killed me by now knowing that I am your enemy," Lacus replied, still eyeing him, "Some even kill without the evidence of such."

He was unable to say anything for a while.

"Why are you employed by the army? Who are you really Kira Yamato?"

Kira took a deep breath, "I'm a mercenary."

OoOoOoOo

The party that night was a show of peace between the city government and the military. As a sincere gesture, the commander-in-chief himself, Gilbert Durandal showed up despite the protests of the generals. He was too good a target for the terrorists to pass up, and the army was sure that an attack would be made. That's why Athrun had to work extra hard tonight.

"Mr. Anderson, Mr. Smith sends his apologies as he was unable to attend tonight's occasion," he said to a man in his forties who had a receding hairline.

As Anderson turned to see him, Athrun could see that he was not fit at all. Anderson had fat limbs and a protruding stomach, probably from eating gourmet and sitting behind a desk all day. Anderson eyed him and asked, "And who are you?"

Athrun returned his gaze, "I'm Alex Dino, his representative for external affairs." How he managed to rise so fast in the company was an easy task. All he had to do was locate his vice: pornography, and threatened to publicize it unless he would do what Athrun told him to. He continued to mingle with the businessmen and city politicians, making himself known that he was the representative of one of the top companies in the city. Of course, the important thing was he had to win Seiran's trust. The first step in doing that was to introduce himself.

Athrun ascended the grand staircase, scanning the crowd for a purple head. He succeeded in locating Seiran, only to be shocked by what he saw next.

Lightly touching Yuuna Seiran's arm was the girl he met only a few nights ago, Cagalli Yula Atha; and she looked pissed off. _What is she doing here? An unemployed young woman holding the arm of a Resistance contact, what else could she be doing? _Athrun pushed the nasty thought out of his mind, grabbed a proffered glass of wine from a waiter and walked towards Seiran and Cagalli. As he neared her, Athrun could clearly see that despite being furious, she looked beautiful in a green off-shoulder top and a skirt in the same color that had a slit which offered a tantalizing view of her leg. He noticed that she had a gold band on her leg, an interesting place to add an accessory.

Athrun looked up only to meet her eyes, widened in shock.

"A-Alex!"

"Hello Cagalli," he smiled amiably at her. Athrun was going to ask her a question when Seiran noticed that Cagalli's attention was elsewhere, saw Athrun, and tightened his hold on Cagalli, thus earning him her malevolent glare, "And who might you be?"

Athrun gave him the glass of wine and held out his hand, "Alex Dino, from the Smith Trading Company."

Seiran's hostility vanished, "Of course," he accepted the proffered glass of wine, let go of Cagalli, and shook Athrun's hand, "I'm Yuuna Seiran. The Seiran Company always feels the pleasure of working with your company."

The green-eyed young man felt elevated inside, he knew Seiran was in awe of the company he was in and the urge to fawn was irresistible.

Seiran eyed both Athrun and Cagalli suspiciously, "You know each other?"

Athrun let go of his hand. He glanced at Cagalli, who was unable to speak, clearly not wanting to tell the truth. He decided to save her from the agony with the first thing that came up to his head, which was strangely, Kira Yamato, "We're childhood friends, right?"

Cagalli blinked, "Childhood friends? Of course. We've known each other since we were kids."

Athrun then inquiringly looked back at Seiran.

"Oh, small world then. I'm her fiancé."

Cagalli looked disgusted.

Athrun couldn't believe his ears. He said in a very serious tone, "What did you say?"

OoOoOoOo

"I see." Lacus said after hearing what Kira had to say.

"Miss Lacus?"

"Yes?"

"If you're not terrorists, what do you call yourselves then?"

"We were never terrorists. We are members of the resistance movement."

"Resistance? How come I never heard of that before? Why would people call you terrorists then?"

"Kira, allow me to explain by citing examples. A few days ago, members of the resistance blew up a city outpost. Can you tell me who will most be likely to be inside the outpost?"

"Soldiers probably."

Lacus nodded, "Soon after that, a school was bombed. Who are most likely to be in there?"

"Civilians. Children."

"Right."

"You did that?"

"No."

"Some other resistance movement, then?"

"We are the only resistance movement in the city. Tell me Kira, who else has enough firepower to bomb such buildings?"

"The army would never do that!"

"They already did," Lacus said solemnly, "You see, Kira? It is they who should be called terrorists. What we do is actively resist the army, not kill innocent civilians."

"But aren't your members civilians as well?"

"What differentiates us from the rest of the civilians is that we are committed to active resistance."

"And the rest? What are they supposed to be?"

"I'd have to go quite way back to explain."

"You won't have me captured, will you?"

"Only if you won't kill me or betray the resistance."

OoOoOoOo

Cagalli could see the shock in his eyes, and she wondered why. The atmosphere was stifling her and she said impulsively, "I need a drink, will you come with me, Alex?" With that, she immediately left Yuuna's side and headed straight for the waiter pouring the drinks. She grabbed a glass and immediately downed the wine. The Alex that followed her was strangely quiet, "What's the matter with you? Why are you here anyway? You told me you were a weapons tester, strange for you to represent your company in this room full of business bigwigs."

"Let's just say I'm a fast flyer," he replied, "What about you? You never told me you were engaged."

She became agitated, "I'm not obliged to tell you that!"

He stared at her with a strange light in his eyes, "It's just curious. You were neither wearing an engagement ring the night we met nor are you wearing one now. The same goes for Seiran."

Cagalli colored at this blunder. Alex was obviously too smart to be fooled; and she was too upset at her situation that she forgot details. Cagalli was angry with herself, but she had better make up an excuse fast, "I…just don't like to wear it."

"Seiran doesn't want to wear it, either? You sure don't act like you're engaged."

"Stop interrogating me!" She said as she stomped away from him. Cagalli had backed away from Yuuna because he was stifling her, and now she's trying to get away from Alex because he was choking her, it was getting ridiculous.

Alex had apparently followed her and said relentlessly, "I don't think you're even in love with each other."

She spun around and faced him, hands on her hips, "What's gotten into you, Alex?"

He blinked and shrugged.

OoOoOoOo

Shinn could see Cagalli talking with Luna's escort. What the hell was she doing? Cagalli was supposed to be guarding Yuuna Seiran, not flirt with guys! In fact, the guy she was talking to was already suspicious. He was the escort of an army officer such as Luna. Shinn was almost sure he was from the military himself. He wanted to grab Cagalli right then and there and tell her the situation she was in, but he was under strict orders from Murrue. Shinn was not to contact any member of the resistance since he became an unofficial courier of the military, unless he wanted his cover blown. It was a blessed opportunity to come here, since Stellar asked him to be her escort for the night, a task he didn't mind doing.

Shinn, instead of doing what he wanted to do, crossed the hall instead, passing fellow resistance member Orga Sabnak who posed as a waiter. This was getting dangerous, there were soldiers posted all around the building. If they made a mistake, they would be interrogated and tortured, like what they did to Auel Neider, whose mangled body was found in the desert a few days ago. If that would happen, they would be forced to tell all they know and the resistance would be finished.

He would not let that happen. He could not let that happen, not now.

OoOoOoOo

_There was a war in the desert, and it hasn't ended yet; the army vs. guerillas of the desert. At one point, the army would have the advantage, and then saboteurs of the other side would come in and the advantage would go to the guerillas. The cycle went on and on. As of now, it's a stalemate._

_The army's supplies have to go a long way across the desert before it reaches their bases. Along that trek, guerillas would ambush the supplies for themselves. The army's solution to this was to take over the only city left unscathed in the desert. However, that city declared itself to be neutral. The army pressed in. They gave the city officials an ultimatum: surrender or we'll take the city by force. This city was helpless, they could not ask for help outside since they were surrounded by the army. Government officials asked for a negotiation and the army agreed. They soon came up with an agreement: the army can reside in the city, however, the citizens have to make their own decision whether to support them or not._

_We did not like the way the army behaved in the city, placing it in a quasi-authoritarian rule. We protested, we campaigned against it, we were against them and we let the army know. We wanted them to change their rule if they wanted our approval. We tried in every legal way possible. However, it seemed that the army already thought that they had the city under their control. They would not listen to us; we had to resort to other means. Of course, we're not entirely giving up the passive process._

_Apparently, not all the people think the same. They didn't agree with the army either. What the army did was labeling us as terrorists and set us up in order to swing the crowd to their favor._

"…and that's how we ended up here," Lacus finished, "What about you, Kira? Did you just come here for the money? Won't you try fighting for what you believe in?"

Kira smiled.

OoOoOoOo

The clock announced it was twelve o'clock. At that moment, bombs exploded around the perimeter of the building.

Inside the cavernous hall, the window panes shattered and fell on the crowd, who screamed as they all went down face flat on the floor.

The lights went out. The only radiance came from the fires outside. Athrun were already up, trying to locate the commander-in-chief but to no avail, it was too dark. Luna then thought she saw a flicker of red light across the room and it alarmed her. She glanced towards the second floor and ran.

Orga Sabnak was in position, he only had a few seconds to do this and he had to time this right. He adjusted his sniper rifle and waited for the moment to come. Someone had shone a flashlight on Durandal, Orga aimed at his forehead with the laser.

What happened next was very fast.

Below, the fires blazed and Cagalli could see Athrun's escort aim her gun at Orga. She yelled, "Watch out!" as she got her gun from her leg holster. As she was aiming for the other girl, Orga had already fired. A faint shout of, "Watch out" was heard before it was drowned by gunshots and Orga bloodily fell to the floor.

The sound of gunshots made the people panic and rush to the nearest exit, spoiling Cagalli's aim. She fired anyway. Cagalli could hear a female sound of anguish; she didn't know where she hit the girl. Cagalli then pulled a terrified Yuuna from the floor and dragged him away from the scene as soon as possible.

Shinn rose from the floor, "Are you alright?" he asked the man under him as he pulled him up.

"Thank you," Durandal said, "You saved my life."

"I did what I had to do." Shinn said grimly.

OoOoOoOo

A/N: And the body count goes higher and higher. Hope you didn't get bored by the explanations. Do keep the reviews coming; it helps a lot, especially the constructive ones. If you're going to be mean, make sure it's justified, okay? Please review!


	5. Your choice

A/N: I've decided to finish this chapter in two sittings because I'll be incredibly busy next week.

I've gotten some of my ideas from Ken Follett. There, I've acknowledged him, so please don't make me go to court. He's an author, by the way.

Hmmm, I wonder if anyone noticed this. In chapter 3, Cagalli swore she wouldn't wear a dress. In chapter 4, she wore a top and a long skirt, which, technically, isn't a dress. Murrue had compromised brilliantly. Hehe.

I promised blood in this chapter, though not by the way the previous chapters went. Okay, that was too much of a spoiler. Just don't do any of this stuff at home, I'm warning you. Let's get on with the story so far.

Oh yeah, I appreciated all the reviews very much. Thank you!

Disclaimer: If I owned GSD, this fic would proably be canon. I'm not Ken Follett, either. All I own in this story are a few soldiers and a boy.

OoOoOoOo

By next morning, Cagalli was wondering whether she could actually survive this entire thing.

_That was close_, she thought, _too damn close for comfort_. Cagalli knew it was her job, her will to do what she had to do. Still, the incident last night managed to shake her a bit. Especially when she now knew that Athrun's escort, the redhead, was indeed an army operative. Cagalli could see her against the fire's radiating light near the window, as she was a few meters tangent of Sabnak. The redhead had ascended the staircase near the window and shot him. It was too dark and the people were too panicked for Cagalli to hope that it was a fatal shot, but she still did.

With that came the thought that Alex could be an army operative himself. It wrenched her heart to actually think of it; _he couldn't be, could he?_

The cold, logical, rational part of her mind answered back, _yes, it is all far too possible_.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. She still had to work. She had already reported to Murrue immediately after the incident. All she had to do now was await her new orders.

"Oh hi, Cagalli," Miriallia sniffed as she met Cagalli in the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Cagalli asked her

Miriallia wiped her tears away, "Mourning for Orga. Someone has to."

"It would have been fine if we hadn't slipped up. Can you do a favor for me?" Cagalli asked her.

"Sure, what is it?"

"You have an informant inside the army, right?"

"Well, he isn't in the very highest of levels, but he can work the bureaucracy around. Why?"

"Can you ask him if the army has any information on an Alex Dino?"

"Sure. I'll get it to you in three days' time."

"Three days? Why that long?"

"Well, I could deliver the request to him by today. He would have at least a day to get the information and hand it the day after that."

"Oh, okay. I'll be waiting then."

"Stay alive by then, will you Cagalli?"

"Of course I will."

OoOoOoOo

Lunamaria was pacing around a table and a map of the city, furiously thinking what, or who, would be the terrorists' next target. There was a bit of regret on her part that she had killed the green-haired man so quickly, he could have had some vital information that Rey could easily extract from him, just like what he did to the man that they killed a few days ago. Still, the commander-in-chief's life had been in danger, and that threat had to be silenced immediately. It was a good thing that the new recruit, Asuka, was there to save his life.

And now, the only lead she had were her suspicions regarding Seiran's escort, the blonde girl. They had a disappearing act after the incident last night. Seiran was a terrorist; it was likely that the girl would be one herself. Then again, she could be a simple civilian, knowing Seiran's taste after reading the file on him.

And then there was that problem of who had shot her. The doctors had immobilized her entire right arm so that Lunamaria couldn't move her injured shoulder. She went out and told a junior officer, "Get me the guest list on last night's event." He nodded and took off. The guests had been searched upon the entrance of course; the gun was probably inside already. But then the army would have checked the area before anyone arrived. The green-haired terrorist had a sniper rifle, and he got inside. He could have taken the shot from outside, but it was impossible, since the area was filled with primed greenery. Still, he had come in as a waiter. Damn, she should have sent for the crew list as well.

Someone knocked on the door and she opened it. "Here's the list, Major," the junior officer said, handing it to her.

Lunamaria nodded as she took the list, "Bring me the crew list as well."

As she reviewed the list, her eyes focused on Yuuna Roma Seiran's escort, Cagalli Yula Atha, who he claimed to be his fiancée. _So that was her name_, Lunamaria thought.

It was at that moment that it struck her. Athrun was searched at the party, just for the pretense that he was a civilian. Lunamaria herself wasn't searched because she was a woman. So if her suspicions were indeed true and fate was in her favor, Cagalli Yula Atha might very well be the terrorist Lunamaria was looking for.

The problem was she didn't know where to find her in this dense city.

OoOoOoOo

Blast, this wasn't going the way he had planned. First, Kira went missing; and then there was that incident last night. Athrun had yet to produce information since this mission began, and he decided to get it the quickest way possible. It wasn't the method that he liked, but he had to get something before anything else worse happened.

That night, he went to where Seiran's city residence was a hotel. Athrun entered the hotel and went straight to the hotel clerk, whom he knew to be an army agent. He flashed his army credentials to the wide-eyed young man before whispering, "Call this number on your cellphone if room 576 calls for room service," as he slipped him a piece of paper before proceeding to the fifth floor and pretended to drink a glass of scotch as he stared out at the lit city below.

Ten minutes later, his cellphone rang and he answered it, "Yes?"

"Um, he called for whiskey thirty seconds ago."

"Good." He turned it off. Five minutes later, the room service man came out of the employees' elevator with the food tray. Athrun let the man pass along him before proceeding to knock him out from behind when the main elevator opened and out came a young couple chatting away.

_Damn it_, he thought, as he stopped himself from knocking the man out and looked out the window instead. The room service man was ten rooms away from Seiran's. The couple was walking at a frustratingly slow pace. _Hurry!_

Eight rooms away. The young woman stopped and whispered something in the man's ear.

Seven rooms. They both laughed.

Five rooms away. The couple stopped at a door.

Four rooms. The man checked a piece of paper, and told her, "Wrong door."

Three rooms away. They stopped at another door and the woman fumbled inside her bag.

Two rooms. The keys fell out of the woman's purse.

One room away. The woman picked it up and slid it inside the keyhole.

The room service man was in front of Seiran's door and checked whether it was indeed the room the whiskey was called for. As soon as the couple had opened the door and blocked the room service man and him from view, Athrun ran towards him and knocked him out right before the man knocked on the door. He looked around. The young couple had closed the door behind them and no one else was along the corridor.

Athrun dragged the unconscious man towards the broom closet. Using the open door as cover, he donned the man's clothes and knocked on Seiran's door, the wine in front of him on the tray.

The door opened and he was allowed in. Athrun hid his face as much as possible with the cap from Seiran. When the purple-haired man had closed the door, he turned around only to see the barrel of a gun inches from his lips.

"Scream and I'll blow your mouth off." Athrun said threateningly.

Yuuna stared at him, "Y-You're Alex Dino…from last night's party."

Athrun could see he was going to panic if he let him talk any longer so he pointed the gun to Seiran's forehead, "I'm going to let you choose your fate. You could either die like a dog and have your brains fall out or you could live and do what I want you to do. Your choice."

Seiran's wide, terrified eyes showed Athrun his answer. The green-eyed man told him, "Good. Here's what I want from you…"

OoOoOoOo

The next morning found Cagalli driving a beat-up motley car in the city. The mission she was about to do today was fairly daunting, especially since she was alone. Cagalli didn't mind that she was a girl, since it was a bonus, as the soldiers weren't that overly suspicious with women as they were with men. _What those bastards haven't thought of_, she thought, _is that women could do the same things men do, heck we could do it better than them_.

Besides, the Resistance didn't have that many men to spare for the mission. Most of them were out there in the desert. So even if she could request that someone else would do it, granting it would be impossible.

She stopped the car a block away from a bungalow where she could make out a couple of armed soldiers near the front window. Her car was beside a noisy café blaring out modern songs. Cagalli waited for the song to finish before reaching out below the wheel and flicking a switch. She then stepped out of the car and proceeded to circle the entire block. Cagalli discarded her plastic raincoat and donned a much more comfortable jacket before coming into view of the café where her car stood nearby and sat down on one of the chairs.

The plan was simple. She would shoot the guards at the same time of the explosion. After that, she had precious seconds and the element of surprise to eliminate the remaining military personnel inside. Cagalli would then block the front door and every entrance of the bungalow, which a secret stash of military weapons was hidden. From the back door would come a few Resistance operatives who would spirit away the weapons as Cagalli would set up another bomb they had with them. After stealing all the necessary stuff, they would all leave and the bungalow would explode next.

As the song from inside the café was about to be finished, Cagalli stood up and walked towards the building with the armed guards, and hiding underneath the side window. She decided to shoot three times in succession: first to break the window glass, second to kill the nearer guard, and the third to kill the farther guard. She would check whether they were really dead once she was inside.

At that moment, when the song was finished, her car blew up.

In the next few seconds, everything was at a standstill and everyone was like a statue staring at the blazing car. Meanwhile, two guards were dead on the floor inside the house as Cagalli was climbing inside from the shattered window. She checked the entire bungalow only to find that no one else was there. Alarm bells rang off in her mind, _where is everyone else?_ Unable to find an answer, Cagalli proceeded to block every window and the front door with the furniture that she could find. The knock from the back door came and she went there to open it, expecting the Resistance members.

Who she saw in front of the back door was an unfamiliar man, and Cagalli's eyes immediately flew to the military insignia on the man's chest. Before he could react, she slammed the door on his face before running and leaping behind the sofa and reached for her gun. _Ten bullets left_, she thought.

A stream of gunfire erupted from the back of the house caused her to lie down as everything else was studded with bullets. The porcelain vases and the glass sculptures crashed musically to the floor as the cotton from the sofa whirled around in crazy flight and the walls were decorated with holes.

_What's happening?_ Cagalli thought frantically, _what the hell happened? Where are the operatives?_

Beside her, she could see the faces of the dead guards and she felt a stab of fear. The gunfire had stopped and the men started to bust in. Cagalli dived to the right and quickly shot into the heart of every man that entered the bungalow. After nine men fell dead, they stopped coming. Cagalli felt the instinct to flee and she ran towards the wooden cabinet she placed in front of the front door. Something thudded across the floor and smoke began hissing out, stinging her eyes.

_Tear gas, damn it. I gotta get out of here!_

Tears blurred her vision and she coughed almost every other second. Cagalli managed to push the cabinet away and slammed the front door opened trying to breathe fresh air when she saw a familiar redhead with a cast pointing a gun at her. Cagalli swung to take aim at the man when she noticed that there were ten more masked men behind her, their guns trained at her head.

OoOoOoOo

He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves. He felt a cold feeling in his stomach and he felt himself immune to all human emotions. He thought of the prisoners as machines that would extract information as soon as he knew how to operate them. Only then did he enter the interrogation chamber. He sat down and asked the corporal how many the prisoners were. The corporal told him there were only two: the saboteur and one who was supposed to sneak in from behind.

The man was dismayed, "Why so few?"

"The rest of them resisted capture and the soldiers had no choice but to kill them."

"Alright, bring the first one in."

The first prisoner was a young boy, terrified out of his wits as the man could see. He asked the boy, "What's your name?"

The boy choked on his voice, "Allan."

The man grinned at him, "Welcome to hell, Allan."

Allan then became more terrified as he was led away and the second one was ushered in. _Ah, this was the one known as the Goddess of Victory_, he thought, _well, she isn't one now_. The girl shot him a look of hatred.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

The blonde spit on his face and received a punch to the stomach from the corporal.

He wiped his face calmly, "I would know your name soon enough," he said as he waved her away. _That girl was going to be a tough one_, Rey thought. He was a skilled interrogator. He never failed with men, and yet he sometimes failed with women. The boy doesn't probably know much, but the girl knew more about the terrorists more than anyone else they had caught. She was, to the military, the duck that would lay the golden eggs. He decided to terrify her first.

Rey told the corporal to put the girl in the interrogation chamber. She stared at him with unmasked hate.

He pretended not to care, "Anything you say can affect everything that happens here. It is all your choice."

She didn't say anything.

"What is your name?"

Silence.

"Cagalli Yula Atha, do you know why you're here?"

Her eyes shot wide with the mention of her name. _Score the first point to me_. But Cagalli quickly regained her composure and snapped, "You've kidnapped a civilian."

"A civilian?" he asked, "No, Cagalli, we've captured a terrorist."

She snarled at him against her bonds, "We're not terrorists, you bastard! You are!"

Rey cocked her head at her, "You killed eleven men just now who were just doing their duty. You blew up a car in the middle of the city, and attempted to blow up a building as well. Tell me, who is the real terrorist here?"

"Hypocritical son of a bitch!"

"Who is the leader of the terrorist organization?"

Silence.

"Who are your comrades?"

Silence.

"Where is the headquarters?"

Silence.

"Who will you kill next?"

Silence.

Rey stood up, "Your silence has its consequences, Cagalli." He entered the torture chamber next door and made sure the door was left ajar. Inside was Allan tied to the wall and stripped naked. Rey nodded to the corporal, who punched Allan in the stomach.

Allan yelled in pain. Rey stopped the sergeant. Males could generally stand for so long being punched. Instead, he produced a handkerchief and tied it around Allen's head, covering his eyes, "Therefore, he doesn't know when and where the next blow would come and would dread every second that the blow doesn't connect."

Corporal Gates got an Indian club from a rack of assorted weapons and hit Allan's head, producing a scream from him. Once again, Rey stopped him, "Never hit the head, for his mind would be muddled and the information he would give out would be useless. Don't hit the jaw either, for it might be dislocated and then he would not be able to speak. Also, never hit the vital organs," Rey then picked out an iron crowbar. The best place to give agony to a person without harming his life would be to hit the bony parts of his body, which would be the joints, "A hit to the shin should be fine."

Gates took a careful aim and hit the knee. A real scream of agony came out from Allan as the white bone stuck out of skin and he passed out. Gates splashed cold water on him and Allan came to and screamed again.

He begged, "Please! I'll tell you everything!"

Rey nodded and told Gates to hit him once again in the exact place as before. Allan screamed in painful agony as the second hit connected with the exposed bone and he fainted once again.

Rey went back to the interrogation chamber where he saw Cagalli looking scared and grimly resigned. Still looking tough, "Well, Cagalli?"

"Make it stop," she whispered

"Only if you will answer my questions."

Cagalli looked at him, "Fuck you then."

"Selfish, aren't you?" Rey said to her, "You're willing to let a young boy take the consequences of your actions."

She stared back at him, hatred still in her eyes, still saying nothing.

"You leave me no choice, Cagalli."

OoOoOoOo

"Athrun Zala reporting for duty."

Talia Gladys turned around to see Athrun. She returned the salute and said, "Good work, Athrun. The information you obtained was invaluable. Because of you, Lunamaria was able to capture the Goddess of Victory."

Athrun's eyes widened, "The Goddess of Victory?"

She nodded, "She is currently being interrogated. If you wish to see it, Lunamaria will escort you."

Athrun left her office and was met by Lunamaria. She was smiling smugly, "You're brilliant, Athrun. Your work was brilliant."

"Um, thanks." Seiran told him that an attack on the hidden weapons stash would be made by the enemy.

"Good thing you made contact with her, or else we would never have been able to find out who she was."

He stopped, "What are you talking about?"

Lunamaria said, "Why don't you see her for yourself?"

And there Athrun saw, beyond the dark glass, the girl he had saved several nights ago, strapped on a bed, her body convulsing with the waves of electricity passing through; her screams of agony ringing in his ears.

OoOoOoOo

A/N: Er, I don't know the proper term for the guy who brings the food into a hotel room, so I called him a room service man. I didn't research it, because I wanted that scene to be done with quickly. Sorry.

Once again, some of my ideas were from Ken Follett.

Phew, this chapter was tough to type. I had to wrench my imagination of so many ideas. There, I told you there will be blood. Only that it wasn't specifically mentioned. Was it too boring? There wasn't any AxC here, but I'm leading up to it. I had planned this chapter for such a long time now. I hope I didn't make them too stupid again.

Did I succeed in creating tension?

Please review! I need to know what you think about the story so far. Is it good or does it suck? Does it work or not? As usual, constructive criticisms are most welcome. I don't mind flames, as long as you justify your claim. Thank you.


	6. An eye for an eye

A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Next week is my hellish enrollment week, so I tried to finish this week. You must understand that as much as I am charmed by chivalry; however, fiction-wise it's the easy way out. Know what I mean?

There, I've replaced this chapter with the fixed one. Sorry for that.

Disclaimer: If I had owned GSD, it wouldn't have been called GSD.

OoOoOoOo

Ever since he was enrolled in the military academy, he thought that they, the soldiers were there to protect their country, to protect what they believed in; to protect against the enemy, who were there to defy the laws, willing to defy the country he was going to protect. The enemy was threatening the ideals he was going to defend.

They were different from Us. We are different from Them. They will always be the bad guys. They will always be the evil ones, trying to defy the authority. His job was to protect We, the people He knew, from Them, the bad guys.

It never really sank into his mind that We and Them, the people he knew and swore to protect and the people who were willing to harm them, could actually be the same.

Sure he knew about betrayal, he knew about rats. He knew that they were wolves in dogs' clothing. All he had to do was sniff them out.

Until the present, he hadn't realized that They could actually be people. He had never grasped the fact that They could have emotions, They could laugh, They could get drunk and almost molested by fellow drunks. All he knew about They was that They were bad guys. That was it. It had never come to him that They could actually be real human beings.

That was why Athrun Zala, one of the best operatives of the army, was confused on what to do about a captured terrorist.

OoOoOoOo

Lunamaria was annoyed with the so-called Goddess of Victory. Why would a 17-year old girl be willing to risk her life to kill those who were putting their lives on the line in order to save her damn city?

She couldn't understand why the terrorists would oppose the army so much. The desert rebels were barbarians and opposed democracy. If they captured the city, they would rule it like medieval kings who cared for nothing less but more power, wealth, and influence. They wouldn't care about the people in the city. Why couldn't the terrorists understand that? The army was willing to risk their lives to protect the city from barbarism and they opposed it!

How could they fight against those who offered them protection from barbarism?

OoOoOoOo

"You know about the incident right?"

"What do you take me for? Of course I know about it."

"Hey, calm down. I'm not trying to provoke you. But you do know what happened to your men, right?"

"Quite. It was a situation all fucked up. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I didn't realize you swore like a man."

"This isn't exactly a tea party."

"Touché."

"But that wasn't supposed to happen. We knew the operations of that building. We knew how many men are supposed to be there when. We knew how to bring that building down!"

"…"

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. There's a fucking rat. We have fucking rat!"

"You better catch the pest quick. Two survived the ambush. One is barely alive. The other one, you might know her."

"The Goddess of Victory."

"As of now, she is being questioned by the one of our skilled interrogators. She's still isn't talking, but you know what will happen."

"…"

"One reliable thing about interrogation is that everyone talks eventually. Of course you already know that a frontal assault is futile. And unless we are already deemed useless to the organization, we can't do the job for you. They're a whole lot of suspicious bastards."

"Tch."

"You gotta do it on your own. Unless you want to silence her before she talks, of course."

OoOoOoOo

_ "Selfish aren't you? You're willing to let a young boy suffer the consequences of your actions."_

Cagalli blinked hard and willed the voice away. Her body was numb, and she was grateful that the electric torture was stopped; only to realize she was faced with another torture. She was thrown into a cell with a barely breathing Allan. He was still naked and dried blood was all over him. His joints were bent at awkward angles and he continued to moan like a lifeless zombie.

It was her fault why he was like this.

It was her fault why this boy was here and tortured. It was her stubbornness that broke Allen's shin.

She didn't know when the next interrogation would happen. What if she talked then…?

OoOoOoOo

"Um, you wanted to talk to me, sir?"

Durandal turned to see Shinn Asuka saluting to him. He nodded in acknowledgement, sat down, and motioned for Shinn to do the same, "I must express my gratitude to you for saving me from harm the other night."

Shinn looked uncomfortable, "Just doing my duty, sir."

"You're quite a high flier, how long have you been in the service?"

_ The eyes bore into me_, Shinn thought, _probing for weaknesses_, "Three months, sir."

"Hm. I was thinking of having you promoted."

"Sir?" He felt thrilled inside; Shinn was closer to this goal.

"You may or you may not think of this as a promotion, though."

With that statement, Shinn's elation was marred with a stab of fear. Had Durandal found him out?

"Stellar personally requested to have you transferred to be her bodyguard. As recent events have proven your worth, I have no reservations about the idea."

_ Stellar_, Shinn thought, _who wouldn't want to?_ Besides, it would free him of the restrictions of a soldier and grant him more access to Gilbert Durandal than a five-star general, "Thank you, sir!"

OoOoOoOo

"…and that's why we have to do it ourselves." Miriallia finished.

"So we have three choices," Mu said, "Slip someone in to sneak her out. Slip someone in to silence her permanently. Or abandon her and allow the secrets of the Resistance to pour on the hands of the military."

"Mu!" Murrue said, slamming her palms on the desk, "Stop joking around."

The blond man shrugged, "You needed to lighten up a bit. Although reality-wise, those really are our options. Of course, I'd prefer that we exert more effort on the first one."

"However," Andrew said, "The army is surely expecting a rescue attempt. We can't just sneak anyone in. I bet they're already doubling their security."

"They did." Miriallia answered.

"Are you sure we can't use your agents, Milly?" Mu asked

"And risk compromising their position? Of course not."

"I have the perfect candidate in mind." A female voice said.

Everyone in the room faced Lacus Clyne.

OoOoOoOo

The cell doors opened. Cagalli felt dread at the excruciating pain she was once again about to face. She thought about Allan and her intentions; it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Cagalli was forced to sit again in front of that table across the blond interrogator. Once again, she summoned her façade of hatred. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice her weaknesses; at least, not now.

Her interrogator looked bored, "Tell me, who's your control agent?"

She hitched her lips together; of course she wouldn't tell him about Miriallia. _Hell, don't even think of it! Think nothing of the Resistance!_

He said, "You do know that your silence doesn't make things better, don't you?"

Cagalli mouthed her lips perfectly as she uttered her next words, "Fuck you."

He calmly went over to her and slapped her. Hard. The echo of that slap rang across the room, and the sting went a lot deeper than her red cheek. Oh it rang all right; it rang of the harsh situation she was in. Cagalli, in spite of what her interrogator said, didn't control what would happen here. Whatever words would come out of her mouth, she will end up in exactly one place: the bloody desert.

OoOoOoOo

Kira went inside the I Building, pretending his best to be unmindful of the guards. He didn't meet their eyes, lest they perceive what he really felt inside, even as they frisked him. Suddenly, the Alphabet Military Complex that he usually felt at ease in was an imposing fortress, ready to close in on him when he screwed up.

He knocked on the door and a corporal answered it. Kira managed a glimpse of blond hair before the corporal stepped outside and closed the door. The brunette gathered an air of authority around him before saying, "Tell Major Za Burrel that the prisoner is to be transferred immediately to the Alpha under my supervision."

The corporal looked confused and went inside. Not a minute later, the interrogator came out: Rey Za Burrel, "What is the meaning of this? I'm supposed to be interrogating the prisoner. Who are you anyway?"

"Major Yamato. The orders came from the top."

"Do you even have the authorization?"

The flourish of papers. Silence.

"Do you even have proper security? Where is your lieutenant, Major?"

"He's warming up the car. I think I can manage to deliver a beaten-up girl to the higher-ups, Major Za Burrel," Kira said softly, "The prisoner, if you please."

The blond interrogator gave him a seething glance before he opened the door to allow Kira the sight of a stiff girl being handcuffed by the corporal and led to Kira with a gun behind her head. The brunette then cocked his own gun against the side of her head as he took her and led her away, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't get any ideas into your head, if you value your life."

She glanced at him maliciously, but gratefully, she complied with his orders.

Kira could still feel Rey's eyes on the back of his head as they went out of the building and into the waiting car. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Let's get out of here, fast."

OoOoOoOo

Meyrin went inside his office giggling. Athrun looked up at her, curious. She noticed him and straightened her face, "Here are the files, sir."

"If you don't mind me asking, Meyrin, what were you laughing about?"

"Oh, sorry about that," more giggles, "It's just that…you should've seen Major Za Burrel's face." She burst into laughter.

"What's with his face?"

"He was as angry as hell."

Athrun let a patient sigh, "Angry for what, Lieutenant Hawke?"

"Someone took the prisoner away from him."

_ Cagalli._ "Who? Who did?"

Meyrin shrugged.

"Find out whom, now!"

OoOoOoOo

"Hold out your hands."

Cagalli was surprised at this order from the man beside her. He didn't look cold at all, in fact he seemed…kindly.

He smiled at her, "I take it those cuffs aren't comfortable?"

She was dumbfounded. Why was this military officer nice to her? Unless…, "Are you really an army major?" she asked as she held out her hands.

"Uh-huh." The answer came as he shot the chains of the handcuffs.

Cagalli winced in pain before she realized she was free. She sharply glanced at him, "Are you fucking serious?"

The brunette showed her the object around his neck: a blinking choker, "They didn't trust me either. In fact, the only one who did was the songstress."

Cagalli looked incredulously at him, "Lacus?" as he handed her a gun.

Someone from the front said, "We have a tail."

"Sting?"

"Good to see you alive, Cagalli."

"Tch," Kira muttered, "I knew Rey wouldn't let go so easily."

Sting made an abrupt U-turn and sped towards the busy intersection. The light was red. He stepped on the accelerator, narrowly missing a crate truck; thereby successfully blocking the two cars now on the other side of the truck.

"You're bloody suicidal, Sting." Cagalli snarled from under the seat.

"Looks like torture didn't cut your tongue." He replied.

The brunette looked from behind, "This one isn't a tail."

A motorcycle had just slipped under the truck and was still chasing them. The rider then proceeded to shoot the left rear tire, causing the car to skid down the street.

"Oh, fuck!" Sting swore.

Another tire got shot, this time a front tire. The car crashed unceremoniously at a park fountain, spraying water around. The rider got off his bike, gun trained, and walked carefully towards the car. The passenger door opened, and the rider stopped.

"Alex?" a voice from inside the car said.

The rider froze, "Cagalli?"

She stepped out from the car, her body shielded by the passenger door, a gun in her hand pointed at him, her eyes full of bewilderment, "You…Alex Dino…you told me you were—"

There was a gun beside her head an arm around her neck, "I must ask you to refrain from speaking for a while, Cagalli."

She stared at the brunette, utterly confused. Athrun moved his aim from her to Kira, "Explain yourself, Kira."

The two were locked in a stare-down as the close-range deadly triangle moved not a muscle.

"I now have serious doubts about the army's morals, Athrun."

"That's it? That's the reason you defected?"

"Ath—"

"Bullshit!"

"It pays to take a look from the other side."

"I forgot you were here for the money. How much did they pay you? Are they that richer than the army?"

"They didn't pay me a single cent, Athrun."

"Then why, damn you! Why the hell did you betray the military?"

"Now is not the time. Reinforcements are coming."

"You forget that my gun is at your head, and I highly doubt that she can manage to shoot me."

"May I then remind you that this car has a driver?"

Athrun froze, glancing at the closed driver's door, assuming the worst. He lowered his gun before the door opened, revealing Sting with his gun trained on Athrun.

"We're taking you as prisoner." Kira said quietly.

"An eye for an eye." Sting remarked, "Let's hurry."

OoOoOoOo

A/N: In this chapter, so many things are happening that I'd rather prefer the dialogue to drive the plot rather than describe the scenes. I apologize for the rather long interval between updates; I had decided to relish whatever is left of my two-week vacation.

For a rather twisted version of what will happen next after chapter 5, check out Hades.Throne.Heiress' appropriately titled fic, 'Trust You Enemy Prediction to ch 6'

Oh please, do review. I really like to hear what you think about the story so far. Once again, constructive criticisms are very welcome. If flames are to be posted, I prefer you justify your claims. Thank you.


	7. Will you kill me?

A/N: Back to my monologue. End of classes. My legs almost gave up on me. Thank you for the reviews! In case you didn't know, I fixed the previous chapter so it's normal again.

You can probably expect more from me, since it is sembreak. I'm honestly sorry for the delay.

Disclaimer: Heck, I don't even know the name of the guy who created GSD, and I'm pretty sure I know mine.

OoOoOoOo

"What do you mean you lost him?"

Meyrin shrank from Lunamaria's angry glare, "Well, he asked me to find out the identity of the officer who took away the prisoner. When I told him the answer, he rushed off."

"And you didn't even provide him back-up?"

"I'm sorry." Meyrin whimpered.

Lunamaria sighed, "Wonderful, I just lost my partner," she paced around, "First Kira, then Athrun. We even lost the damn prisoner. What will the Talia Gladys say?"

Meyrin perked up, "Kira? Kira Yamato?"

"What about it?"

"That's the name of the one who took the prisoner away."

Silence.

"God damn it all to hell."

OoOoOoOo

A carefree spirit, that's what she was.

Shinn Asuka was staring at Stellar dancing to Mozart. Odd really, she was dancing to her own rhythm, and the music was trying to catch up to her. Was it an effect of blindness? Then again, he never knew of any blind that moved so much.

"You'll break a vase if you keep that up." He told her.

Stellar pirouetted to a halt, "Don't be silly."

"What now?"

"Hm…I know, how about a tour of the mansion?"

Shinn glanced at her skeptically, "And you're my tour guide?"

Stellar said, "I know every inch of this place at the back of my hand," she offered her hand to him, "Do you trust me, Shinn?"

He smiled elation and pleasure mixed in his voice as he took her hand, "Of course."

OoOoOoOo

"Do you know the latest news, Rey Za Burrel?"

Rey stared impassively at his superior, Talia Gladys, "No, ma'am."

She was sitting behind her desk; half her profile facing him, with Rey's report in her hands, "The military urgently requires the resources the city government refuses to give, as they have claimed that the city is not under the military's control."

Rey let her continue, "I trust that the news of Major Yamato's defection hasn't spread yet?"

"Only to a certain number of people."

"Very well. You know the problem. You know what you have to do. Make it happen, Major."

He saluted and left.

OoOoOoOo

It was cooler in the room, but that didn't do anything for his mood. How could he be so goddamn stupid as to let himself get caught? He was confused before. Now he was just angry. He was betrayed by two people he knew, and it sucked like hell. Athrun couldn't understand: why did Kira defect? He had thought that Kira might have suddenly gained a conscience and righteous morals and "saw the light", but he dismissed it quickly. What was so enlightening about terrorists? They killed people!

What would Athrun do if he met Kira again? Ha, before that he had to think of a way to escape the place. Unfortunately, the dungeon was well-built. No, it wasn't a room; it was more of a thick-walled cell. He could not hear anyone else around. That probably meant that the terrorists killed more often than they captured. But that wasn't such a comforting thought. Being captured only meant they saved to be killed later, after plenty of torture of course. He didn't know what kind of torture they did to prisoners, and he didn't know how long he could last, but the one thing he was sure of was that he would not betray. Athrun would never betray.

He heard someone come in. Athrun let his back face the cell grills and steeled himself.

"Hello, Alex."

His heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice. He turned to face around quickly, realized himself, and just moved his head to peek out front. His suspicions were confirmed; the voice belonged to a blonde girl, Cagalli. Like him, her back was facing him. The elation he felt in seeing her was suddenly drowned by cold anger by the memories she presented, "What do you want?"

She let out a tiny gasp, probably at his cold tone. Somehow he was glad he could not see her expression, he didn't know what to feel. But she regained herself, "I just want to talk."

He felt colder than the room, "I didn't know you terrorists chat with your prisoners in your free time."

"I want to know why you tricked me like that!"

Athrun was angry enough to face her, "You mean like the way you tricked me?" only to see that she was angry enough to face him as well.

Cagalli's face softened a bit, "I didn't know you were the enemy."

_Neither did I_, Athrun thought.

"I thought you were a simple guy," she continued as he eyes brimmed with tears, "I never knew until the car crashed and I saw you come with your gun."

He was silent as she talked. He did not have the heart to tell her he was the one who killed her companion and had her captured and consequently tortured, "And Seiran?"

She gave a thin smile, "You were right about that one. He isn't really my fiancé; I was just assigned to guard him that night."

Athrun felt considerably lighter at that. He realized she was unknowingly giving him information even though he was her prisoner. He knew he should take advantage of the situation, "Who assigned you to him?"

Apparently, she didn't hear him because she regretfully smiled at Athrun as she said, "You know, I trusted you that time in your room."

That slashed away at his resolve. He simply did not know what to do so he remained silent. A thought ran across his mind, this was a form of interrogation, wasn't it? They had taught it at the academy but he hadn't given it much thought since he saw that those who fell for that kind of interrogation were gullible fools.

Well, he was a gullible fool now…almost.

Athrun had almost done the right thing by being partially silent. She was so good at acting, it's almost real. Was her emotions real? He did not know, he could not know. He did not know what to feel.

_Damn._

"When did you learn I was the enemy, Alex?"

He hesitated, he could not tell her: 'when you were interrogated', "After you were captured."

She stopped smiling and looked up, "It was strange how I was captured. Our information was good; we had the place under surveillance for a long time. But then on that day, the guards were doubled. Neither on the front nor inside, but on the rear of the house, was it as if they were going for an ambush."

Athrun had clenched his fist, caught himself, and relaxed his hand again. But Cagalli had already seen his action and returned her gaze to him. _Hell, this is an interrogation_.

"You had something to do with it." It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

Athrun forced himself not to avert his gaze from her, "No."

"You had someone rat on us."

He said nothing.

Once again, she turned her back on him, "Athrun. That was what Kira called you, right?"

_Shit._

He could hear the wistful note in her voice, "And I was dumb enough to tell you my real name."

Still, he said nothing.

"Alex Dino, weapons tester turned representative for external affairs of the Smith Trading Company, was just a cover," she said, her voice shaking with anger, "Major Athrun Zala, son of General Patrick Zala, codenamed Red Knight, special operations operative. In short, a spy!"

He froze. _Where the hell did she get that information?_ _Kira, damn it._

"Efficient with all kinds of weapons, with exceptional ability with knives and sniper rifles," Her voice was still shaking.

He knew where this was going. _Kira was in this too, why wasn't he jailed as well?_

She was glaring at him now, "You know what I'm talking about, right? You killed Kisaka with that explosion stunt in the bar!"

He finally averted his gaze from her.

"Why aren't you saying anything, damn you?!" she yelled as she rattled the grills.

_Was this a part of the interrogation? Trying to wake his guilt?_

She snarled, "I should kill you right now, you bastard!"

He must not let it get to him. He said quietly, "Are you done now?"

She looked surprised when he had spoken.

"You're right. I killed him," Athrun said, every word freezing his emotions, "I killed him because it was my mission. It was retaliation for destroying the tanks and killing its soldiers. The reason why I hadn't killed you the times we met was because I didn't know you were the person codenamed Goddess of Victory. I did everything that I did because you terrorists are my enemy."

She was quiet as she asked the question that he could hardly answer, "Now that you know I killed your precious tank soldiers, that I have the codename 'Goddess of Victory', will you kill me?"

Cagalli was right. He could not answer the question. And he was saved from the torture.

There was an explosion.

There had been no warning. Athrun was thrown to the far side of the cell with debris over him. He lifted it off him, coughing from the dirt and the sand freely coming in. He looked in front of him, the grills were broken, and there was a gaping hole in the wall. Freedom was in front of him. But Athrun had remembered to look around, only to see debris, "Cagalli?"

He heard someone coughing. He followed the sound and proceeded to remove the part of the wall that fell on the floor. Athrun found a half-conscious Cagalli trapped under the debris. He heard gunshots from afar, the army and the terrorists were engaged in combat, "Can you breathe?"

She answered by coughing again. He picked up her knife and her gun from her leg band before lifting the debris off her.

_Now that you know I killed your precious tank soldiers, will you kill me?_

Athrun helped her up and walked out through the hole.

He felt the barrel of a gun on the back of his head and the inevitable click.

"Release her now." It was an unfamiliar male voice.

Athrun held the knife to Cagalli's neck, "She's my prisoner."

"And you're my prisoner."

"You won't shoot me. I'll kill her anyway."

Cagalli coughed again, and said with considerable effort, "You bastard."

OoOoOoOo

Major Rey Za Burrel stared at the attack on the terrorist building. The information he had obtained was good, but he did not know whether it was good enough. He did not know whether this was the terrorist headquarters, but he had a feeling this was an important place for them. Normally, they would run away like a thief in the night when the army came to an establishment, but now the terrorists were defending the building. This was a good day.

The enemy didn't go out to rush the army soldiers, which was sensible of them. They were well entrenched actually. Rey could not order bombing the building since it would most likely contain precious information about the terrorists. But then if the enemy was desperate, they would do what the military does when they are on the losing side: they burn significant information.

But sooner or later, army discipline would overcome terrorist amateurism. The army would win.

OoOoOoOo

A/N: I promise updates would be quicker. I'd love to hear what you think.


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